The present invention relates to a multi-part form for receiving variable information and particularly relates to a form having a first part with prerecorded information thereon and a second part with little or no prerecorded information thereon but which may receive the variable information recorded on the first part, preferably by carbonless transfer, whereby the second part may be used as a transmission copy for facsimile machines.
Facsimile machines are currently being used to a greater and greater extent. Apart from the initial costs of purchasing a facsimile machine, the cost of transmitting information by way of facsimile transmission is a function of the time of transmission and hence the quantity of information being transmitted. To reduce facsimile transmission costs, the quantity of information and hence time of transmission may be reduced consistent with the capacity to transmit intelligible information. One of the drawbacks of transmitting information according to current practice is the need to transmit known, for example, prerecorded, information, in conjunction with the variable information. For example, business forms are typically preprinted. When a business form is completed by typing or otherwise recording variable information on the preprinted form, the form itself or a copy of the form is used as the facsimile transmission document. This, of course, necessitates the transmission of both the known preprinted information, together with the variable information The recipient of the information is quite frequently well aware of the nature and extent of the preprinted information and oftentimes has the same form in blank with the preprinted information thereon. Consequently, the time and costs associated with the transmission of known preprinted information are, in many instances, totally unnecessary.
According to the present invention, there is provided a multi-part form, a first part of which has prerecorded, e.g., preprinted, information thereon, and a second part, which has a minimum of prerecorded information and may, in fact, be entirely blank without any prerecorded information. The first part of the form with the preprinted information thereon may be used to record the variable information in the appropriate spaces usually provided for such variable information. Transfer of the variable information onto the second form is provided. Preferably, carbonless transfer is employed using infrared adsorptive dyes such that the variable information recorded on the second part of the form may be recognized by all currently standard facsimile machines. Facsimile machines presently known to applicant will all recognize infrared adsorptive dyes, while not all facsimile machines will recognize dyes other than infrared adsorptive dyes. Consequently, in accordance with the present invention, only the second part of the two-part form may be employed as the transmission copy for the facsimile machine.
It will be appreciated that if such second part is initially blank and contains only the variable information transferred thereon from the first part, the time and hence the cost of the facsimile transmission will be substantially reduced in comparison with the time and costs of transmitting the same variable information by facsimile machine but including the non-variable information, similarly as if the first part was transmitted. More generally, the present invention provides a form set which facilitates recordation of variable information on the form while reducing the quantity of information transmitted by facsimile by using the second part of the form for transmitting substantially only the variable information with little or no, non-variable information thereon whereby facsimile transmission costs are substantially reduced.
Where it is desirable at the facsimile transmission receiving site to register the received variable information with the non-variable information previously contained on the first part of the form or with different non-variable information, an appropriate overlay may be used on the received copy. Thus, for example, the arrangement of the variable information on the received copy may match and register with the arrangement of non-variable information on an overlay similarly or differently as the non-variable information was originally on the first, non-transmitted, part of the form set. Thus, the transmitted variable information may regain its intelligible characteristics in registry with the non-variable information, if it is not otherwise intelligible per se.
Accordingly, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a multi-part form for receiving variable information and transmitting the variable information on a facsimile machine, comprising a form set having first and second form parts, with the first form part having preprinted information thereon and the second form part underlying the first form part and being entirely void of preprinted information thereon. Means are carried by the form set for transferring variable information recorded on the first part onto the second part such that the variable information recorded on the second part may be transmitted by facsimile using the second part as the facsimile transmittal copy
In a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method of transmitting by facsimile machine variable information recorded on a form, comprising the steps of providing a form set having a first part with preprinted information thereon and a second part underlying the first part with a lesser content of preprinted information thereon, providing for carbonless transfer of variable information recorded on the first part onto the second part and transmitting the information on the second part by facsimile machine thereby transmitting information of reduced informational content on the second part as compared with the informational content of the first part to reduce facsimile transmission time and costs.
In a still further preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method of transmitting by facsimile machine variable information recorded on a form comprising the steps of providing a form set having a first part and a second part, recording information including variable information on the first part, providing for carbonless transfer of at least a portion of the variable information recorded on the first part onto the second part and transmitting the information on the second part by facsimile machine using the second form part as the transmittal document thereby transmitting at least the portion of the variable information on the second part whereby facsimile transmittal time and costs are reduced.
In a still further preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method for transmitting by facsimile machine variable information recorded on a form set and correlating the transmitted variable information with prerecorded information, comprising the steps of providing a form set having a first part and a second part, recording information including variable information on the first part, providing for carbonless transfer of at least a portion of the variable information recorded on the first part onto the second part, transmitting the information on the second part by facsimile machine using the second form part as the transmittal document thereby transmitting at least the portion of the variable information on the second part and recording the transmitted information at a facsimile machine receiving site on facsimile receiving paper. Prerecorded information is juxtaposed adjacent the received variable information on the facsimile receiving paper to facilitate correlation of the received variable information with the prerecorded information.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a novel and improved multi-part facsimile form set and a method of transmitting variable information by facsimile wherein the time and hence the costs of facsimile transmission can be greatly reduced.
These and further objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent upon reference to the following specification, appended claims and drawings.